A review by legxleg
Ida: A Sword Among Lions by Paula J. Giddings

3.0

2.5. I appreciated the information, and the book was very comprehensive, but I feel like it was almost too comprehensive. As an example, the author tells a story about a time when young Ida spent too much money shopping at a department store, and subsequently was unable to pay her rent. This is an interesting anecdote, but is made less so when the author makes sure to tell us the typical price of the items she bought, a brief history of the department store she bought them from, the name of the landlady she was unable to pay rent to, and a discussion of why the landlady was renting out rooms. I felt like the interesting story of Ida B Wells's life was buried in an avalanche of distracting superfluous facts. There were portions that avoided this problem, such as the descriptions of the various lynchings that Ida wrote about, which were genuinely horrific and moving. I do feel like I have a greater understanding of the state of race relations at the time based on that alone. I think it is interesting to get insight into the sort of pettiness and in-fighting that went on in the civil rights movement of Ida's time. I also was really pleased to learn more about Ida B Wells herself. However, I can't ignore the fact that I feel like I have been reading this book for an age, which is generally not a great sign for me.